Leidy Johana Murillo Ceballos johamurilloc@icloud.

com

Programa Negociación Internacional

Cod. 1667849
Asesor: Mónica Natalia Gutiérrez Burbano
Actividad De Aprendizaje 11
Evidencia 3

Ensayo “Free Trade Agreement (FTA): advantages and disadvantages”

Throughout history, Colombia has entered into new potential markets for the export
of products and services produced in the country, which has allowed it to expand and position
itself in these markets every day and in turn influence the growth of the economy; Therefore,
it is not surprising that there are currently trade agreements with other countries that have
reduced the costs of exporting or importing products - services, a clear example of this is the
free trade agreement between Colombia and the United States.
Now, to contextualize a little more on the subject, it is stated that it is a Free Trade
Agreement (FTA), as its name indicates is an agreement between two or more
countries, signed after several rounds of negotiation, which seeks to accelerate the
economy through the opening of the national market for foreign supply, in which the
increase in capital flows derived from trade between countries is sought.
(ProColombia, 2012).

ProColombia (2012) states that in the case of the agreement between Colombia (FTA)
and the United States (TPA), it has as its basic objective the reduction of tariffs and taxes all
so that the producers of both countries can market freely, that is to say, Colombia eliminated
the tariffs for the entrance to the country of about 82% of the industrial products generated
in the United States. He eliminated them for almost all Colombian products that cross their
borders.
According to Mincit (2017), developed economies such as the United States have a
system of unilateral and discretionary tariff preferences such as the Andean Preferences Law
(ATDEA) that is not only unilateral in nature, but is subject to periodic review, which general
uncertainty in exporting entrepreneurs. Trade agreements with this country grant stability in
tariff preferences, and guarantee the permanence of these preferences and additionally
 Leidy Johana Murillo Ceballos johamurilloc@icloud.com

stimulate foreign direct investment thanks to the legal certainty generated by these
agreements. In 2006, the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States was
sealed after 21 months of meetings between the parties, with bilateral relations that promote
economic and commercial interests and in 2012 came into force, the treaty influences all
sectors of the economy and national productive life, including ICT. (ProColombia, 2012)
Through the commercial treaty that exists in Colombia and the United States,
companies can access one of the main markets in goods and services in the world, however,
a Colombian exporter must take into account the documentation required as the transport
document , the commercial invoice (with three copies), issued by the seller, with the value
per unit and total, and the description of the merchandise, must also have the cargo or income
manifest, "customs form 7533" or Immediate Dispatch "customs form
3461". (ProColombia, s.f)
The portfolio (2011) expresses that the United States is the main destination of
Colombian exports, with a 42% share, also, Colombian exporters of goods paid more
than US $ 9 million for entrance fees to the United States. After the expiration of the
ATPDEA, that figure could be raised to about US $ 125 million, so the free trade
agreement guaranteed a total and permanent relief of all Colombian merchandise
exported to that country.

Continuing with the analysis of the FTA between Colombia and the US, it is worth
highlighting the number of advantages that the treaty brought, such as, the increase and
acceleration of economic growth derived from the greater capital flow, in addition to the
considerable increase in exports , especially those of products and services that were not
previously considered as "traditional" in the market. It should also be noted that
the country may demonstrate an increase in the competitiveness of the national industry
derived from access to new technologies, raw materials and knowledge from the other
country at lower costs, which leads to the modernization of the country and the organizations
related to foreign trade
While it is true that the FTA between Colombia and the United States has great
advantages for both companies and the consumer, it also has a panorama of difficulties and
risks that generally cannot be foreseen, according to Colombia Digital, 2012) . The main
disadvantages of the free trade agreement could be:
 Leidy Johana Murillo Ceballos johamurilloc@icloud.com

• Imbalance of the internal economy and lack of protection of productive sectors that
have not benefited with the negotiation of the Treaty.
• Tax mismatch, since eliminating the import tariffs for foreign products would cease
to receive taxes for this concept, which could deepen the national fiscal deficit; However,
analysts expect this money to be recovered by VAT and Income Tax derived from the greater
movement of the economy.
• Low capacity of adaptation of national companies against international production
standards, generating monopolies and market capture by the US supply that enters the
country.
In order for Colombians to access these benefits, they must know well the policies
that govern the market they want to access, as well as knowing if the product they are going
to export is free of tariffs or what are the possible tariff barriers.
Some products are exempt from tariffs while others do have to pay a lien to enter the
United States. According to data from ProColombia, health products, consulting, software
and information technologies, graphic industry, outsourcing of business processes should not
pay anything. (ProColombia, s.f).
The US market should not be considered as one, but as 50 different, each with rules,
rules and commercial requirements that vary. The country is divided into four regions and
nine subregions, with particular consumption patterns, and the US government databases
must be taken into account as a consultation tool to fully understand the US market as the
department of commerce (www .commerce.gov) and international trade administration
(www.trade.gov) (ProColombia, sf).
Finally, the companies that are going to export will also have to meet the following
requirements such as:
1. Register in the single registry as an exporter, an activity that must be specified in
the Single Tax Registry (RUT). What should they do before the Single Window of Foreign
Trade, to do the pertinent procedures before the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism
2. Affidavit
3. Certificate of origin, to access tariff preferences
 Leidy Johana Murillo Ceballos johamurilloc@icloud.com

In conclusion, if you want to enter a market like the United States, you must deepen
all the needs, costs, price of the product, country requirements, legislation among many other
variables and finally find possible foreign buyers and finance their exports.
 Leidy Johana Murillo Ceballos johamurilloc@icloud.com

Referencias
Colombia Digital. ¿Qué es el TLC Colombia- Estados unidos? (en linea). Disponible en:
https://bit.ly/32cKhSc
Mincit. (2017). Informe sobre los acuerdos comerciales vigentes de Colombia. Mincit.
Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2qg6Ok1
Portafolio. (2011). Beneficios del TLC entre Colombia y Estados Unidos. Portafolio.
Consultado el 14 de junio de 2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2yRWSMj
ProColombia. (2015). Inversión en el sector sistema moda. Consultado el 13 de junio de
2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/1ExAg04
ProColombia. (2017). Catalogo oferta exportable de Colombia. Consultado el 13 de junio de
2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2l9jbIC
ProColombia. (2017). Ropa Interior. Tendencias del sector. Consultado el 12 de junio de
2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2rRnMCW
ProColombia. (s.f). Consejos para exportar ha6cia Estados Unidos. Consultado el 14 de junio
de 2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/1rpWlOq
ProColombia. (s.f). Estados Unidos- Ropa de control. Consultado el 12 de junio de 2018.
Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2t1yqIa
ProColombia. (s.f). Perfil de Logística desde Colombia hacia Estados Unidos. (PDF).
Consultado el 12 de junio de 2019. Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2ygI5j4
ProColombia. (s.f). Perfil Logístico de exportación a Perú. Consultado el 13 de junio de 2098.
Disponible en: https://bit.ly/2yfkVcC
ProColombia. (s.f). Ropa interior. Consultado el 31 de mayo de 2019. Disponible en:
https://bit.ly/2rRnMCW
Universidad de las Américas de Puebla. (s.f). Capitulo II. (Internet). p. 7. Consultado el 15
de mayo de 2019. Recuperado de: https://bit.ly/2rSoPlx